In recent years, many efforts have been made to provide hard surfaces with a repellent coating. These coatings are typically resin-based mixtures that can be cured using ultraviolet (UV) radiation or heat. In order to improve repellency properties, resin-based mixtures comprising fluorochemical compounds have been proposed.
For example, US 2005/0260414 discloses a coated flooring substrate, comprising a flooring substrate and a coating on said substrate, wherein said coating comprises a cured resin and a low surface energy additive having a fluorocarbon functional group, in which said cured resin and said low surface energy additive each comprise a cured form of a substantially reactive group.
WO 2006/007507 relates to a method of protecting a flooring surface and flooring materials by providing a hardcoat surface layer comprising a perfluoropolyether.
US 2005/0137355 discloses coating compositions that can be used to impart hydrophobicity, oleophobicity, stain resistance or combinations thereof to various substrates. The coating compositions include an amino resin and a reactive fluorinated copolymer. The reactive fluorinated copolymer has pendant perfluoropolyether groups as well as pendant groups capable of reacting with the amino resins.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,238,798 relates to ceramer compositions comprising a plurality of colloidal inorganic oxide particles and a free-radically curable binder precursor. The free-radically curable binder precursor comprises a fluorochemical component that further comprises at least two free-radically curable moieties and at least one fluorinated moiety. The compositions are said to provide excellent stain, oil and/or water repellent characteristics as well as a high level of abrasion resistance and hardness.
There continues to be a need for curable coating compositions that can be applied to a flooring substrate and cured to provide good or excellent repellency properties such as water-, oil- and/or stain repellency to the flooring substrate. Desirably, these properties are durable, i.e., the coating composition has good abrasion resistance properties as well. It would furthermore or alternatively be desirable to find coatings that can provide good or excellent stain release properties to a flooring substrate. Desirably, the coating compositions are environmentally more benignant and/or can be produced in a reliable, convenient and cost effective way. In particular, it is desirable to provide a flooring substrate having a curable coating composition that contains low levels of volatile organic solvents (VOCs) and that can be easily cured without complicated or special measures.